Maclean boy knocked unconcious by whale

Maclean boy, Drew Hall doesn't remember much about Sunday but he's still a little sore after being knocked unconscious by a whale.
13-year-old Drew was fishing off Redcliffe (just north of Brooms Head) with his parents, Karen and Steven, when the tail of a whale rose up above the boat and crashed down on top of him.

"I've got a badly broken collarbone; apart from that, just a few scratches."

He says he's seen heaps of whales but this is the closest he's ever got to them.

"When they're migrating, you see heaps of them."

Drew reckons his luck went both ways, considering himself lucky to be alive but also conceding it's 'pretty unlucky to get hit by a whale out in the middle of the ocean'.

But it seems the incident won't turn him off his fishing.

Karen says, "The first thing Drew did this morning was be dropped at the newsagents to get the fishing magazine".

When asked if he'll go out again, Drew's response was, "Yeah, of course I will".

Rare for whales to attack vessels

Geoff Ross from National Parks and wildlife says it is very rare for whales to attack vessels, especially unprovoked.

His only explanation is that the whale involved may have been harassed by other people or boats before coming into contact with the Halls.

He believes the whale may have surfaced and been frightened.

"It would have reacted to try to dive very quickly.

"When whales dive, the flukes come up and then they slap down very hard.

"That would have explained why the flukes came down on the child in the back of the boat," he says.

Whale flukes are 'massive' according to Geoff.

He says in a large adult humpback, they can easily be five or six meters across.

According to Geoff, the weekend was a very busy one.

He says some boats were 'pushing in a lot closer and harassing whales'.

"All the way up and down the coast I sent out... messages across the radio... asking boaters to be aware that there are many whales around and that they should maintain their approach distances and be very cautious."

Geoff says exclusion distances are legislated and state that people shouldn't get any closer than 100 meters to a whale that is moving.